Jesus is inviting us to “do something new”

Reading: And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22.
 
Good morning, happy Monday, and many blessings my dear family.
 
Today’s Gospel (Mark 2:18-22) opens as people come to Jesus and ask Him: “why do your disciples not fast?” Everyone knew that the Pharisees fasted, as did the disciples of John. They are curious about the fact that Jesus and His disciples do not fast. Jesus doesn’t respond as they may have hoped He would. Rather, Jesus uses the example of a wedding feast.
 
Jesus tells his listeners that as long as the bridegroom is at the reception, the guests will continue to celebrate this joyous occasion. The time to fast will be when the bridegroom is no longer with them. Jesus then uses the image of a cloak that is torn and needs to be patched. He tells His listeners that anyone with sense would not use a new piece of material to patch the cloak. Given the difference in the age of the cloths, it would simply make the tear worse. Jesus then uses the image of wineskins. He says that one should never put new wine into previously used wineskins because the skins would burst.
 
In both images Jesus is saying that he and his teaching and the Way he is proposing cannot be judged by the old, traditional standards. Jesus has brought about a radical shift in the ways we are to relate to God and to each other. The Way of Jesus is quite different. It is primarily interior rather than just exterior. It is ultimately rooted in relationships based on love, a love that always seeks the well-being of the other. If we judge what Jesus does by the old ways, we will have difficulties. We need, as Paul says, “to have the mind of Christ”.
 
We have seen that Jesus has already broken through a number of long-established boundaries. There is an atmosphere of liberty around him and his disciples like it. Here is another sign of the presence of the ‘kingdom of God’--Jesus is revealing that God wants everyone to be free, happy, joyous. He is effectively saying, ‘It’s party time!’
 
Today, perhaps is Jesus is inviting us to “do something new” rather than simply continuing to live out our old (and perhaps unhealthy) patterns. I assume that all of us have at least one pattern in our life that we would like to change. Take a moment and ask yourself: what is one small change I would like to make in my life? How serious am I about making this change?
 
My sisters and brothers, change is not as easy. It is easy to make a New Year’s resolution. However, it is much more difficult to keep that resolution. What is the change that you would like to make? What is the change that you desire? What is one simple step you can take to move in that direction? May we pray for one another that we will take that first step!
 
Blessings,
 
Luis+